From the Pastures: Work ethic is important

Well, with the coming of fall, the breeding flock goes into landscaping duties, so they have been traveling from farm to farm, making farmettes look pretty. With the warm weather we’ve had, it’s been fun and nice, but reality hit the third week of November. Wow, I’ve got frozen waterers now!

I have had a good young man help me since May 18. He was a junior in high school at the time he started and has been a fabulous helper. Unfortunately, he had to go back to school and his two favorite sports, wrestling and baseball. So, Nov. 4 was his last day helping me. But during the time he worked for me, we accomplished a lot. He’s the kind of kid Mike Rowe talks about and I told him he was good and would go far if he kept working hard. I really think he has a bright future working with his hands and brains. There are a few good kids left out there.

As an example, the day I wrote my last article, we moved the flock of 110 ewes to fresh grass after they broke through my net fences three times before we were ready to move them. The third breakout was at sunset, so we gathered them as it was getting dark. We had to walk them a quarter of a mile, in the dark, using flashlights and cellphone lights to their new forage. Then we had to go back and pick up the net fence lane, with flashlights, because the farmer was combining the corn alongside the net fence lane in the dark. The kid never complained and worked hard the whole time. At 7:30 p.m., it was pitch dark, I told him to go home. Boy, I miss him.

I took a two-day trip to the Kentucky-Tennessee line to visit Greg Brann for his annual pasture walk that he holds every third Thursday of October. I learned several things there and saw they are pretty dry, also.

Upon returning home, I took a serious look at what forage I had to feed my stock. I don’t have very much due to the lack of rain I’ve received. So, I called the lamb buyer and sold all the lambs except the replacement ewe lambs. And I might sell some of the older ewes, too. You really need to leave your farm once in a while and then come home to really see what you have.

Have a happy Thanksgiving because God really does love us.